iOMG it is Another Universe
by OneHorseShay
Summary: Many-worlds interpretation of QM suggests that all possible alt histories and futures exist. One such world is where Freddie and Carly have been friends just like we're all familiar with, but he's never said I love you to Carly, along with other changes.
1. Chapter 1

iOMG it is Another Universe

By OneHorseShay

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. For God sakes, don't sue.

Summary: The many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics suggests that all possible alternative histories and futures are real; this is just one of those possible worlds: Freddie and Carly have been friends just like the world we're all familiar with, but in this one, he has never once said 'I love you' to Carly, along with some other surprise changes.

Freddie was sitting outside the school on some steps with his back against a wall nursing his bottled water. He was annoyed, irritated and embarrassed all at the same time by Carly's sincere attempt in helping him with his love life by randomly calling up Cat Valentine after being convinced that the mood reader app was accurately reading him 'being in love'. The thought that he could sit out here just added to his irritation, _not much of a lock in if I can just walk out without anyone noticing_. He was wrong in that no one noticed him gone. The door that he used to exit the school slightly opened and a pretty brunette peered around the door to look at the brown haired teenager.

"Hey," she greeted him hesitantly as if she was for a lost for what to say.

He gave her a slight nod and returned the greeting flippantly, "Hey."

Carly lowered her head as she exited the school and leaned against the wall beside the door.

Freddie sighed. "That wasn't cool Carly. You shouldn't have called her."

The brunette took a deep breath and looked to one of her best friends with a look of regret. "I'm sorry. I just wanted you to have your chance at love."

Freddie growled out in annoyance. "I'm not in love with Cat. It is just a stupid app and it gave a false positive."

Carly pushed off the wall and approached him. "You can't fool me Freddie; we've known each other too long. I know you like Cat. You fell for that adorable redhead. I saw how well you two got along and you've been different ever since we got back from L.A. You miss her and you've just been… off."

Freddie sighed and shook his head. He put down his half drank bottled water and stood up to face her. He walked to her for the pair to meet just a foot or two separating them. "Cat's a sweet and beautiful girl, but I am not in love with her."

"Freddie," she began and he just eyed her with a strange mix of annoyance and fear. "You don't have to pretend with me. I know it can be scary. The possible rejection after telling that person you care about them… them cheating on you," Carly finished sadly remembering what happened with Steven and Tori.

Freddie clenched his jaw pushing down his anger once again of wanting to pound Steven into the ground for cheating on Carly. He was still surprised on how Carly had convinced Sam not to teach Steven a painful lesson. He even spared some sympathy for Tori because she was a nice girl and just as an innocent party to the whole affair.

Carly lowered her gaze and shook her head. "But you'll never know if it could work unless you take your chance—"

He cut her off by taking a step forward to close the distance between them and gently cupped her cheeks and leaned his head forward for their lips to meet. His mind screamed to pour his heart and soul into the kiss, so he did, in the gentlest and tender way possible to kiss someone.

Carly's eyes shot open from the contact, but quickly closed from the gentleness of their lips melding. Before she could pull back or return it, Freddie pulled away and still holding her cheeks. His fearful eyes met her stunned eyes for a moment before he dropped his hands and looked down to the ground.

Carly looked to him in utter shock and took a few slow breaths.

Freddie continued to look at the ground as he whispered, "You just guessed wrong about who has my heart."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Carly swallowed down the confusion and uncertainty of what just happened for just long enough to ask, "Me? You love me? Like _that_?"

"Yes," he whispered as he continued to look at the floor. His tone was so hollow and defeated when he spoke the one syllable word that it frightened her. The last time she was that frightened in regards to him was when he nearly died for her when he pushed her out of the way of a Taco Truck. The only way she could deal with that fear was on the second night that Freddie was home from the hospital she had just held on to him for the half hour his mother was gone to get his prescription after helping him out of the shower after falling. Instead of her trying to comfort him, he had held her with his good arm and told her that everything was alright.

After several attempts to get her mouth to function again, she finally asked, "How long?"

He finally looked up from the ground and tilted his head to the side, "Since the day I met you. I just didn't have it all figured out back then, but I knew I loved you more than just a friend."

A part of Carly wanted to laugh at the silliness of the idea of him loving her since he was eleven, but the rest of her in looking into his eyes told her different: he was telling her the truth. She took a sharp intake of breath when she reached that realization and stared at him in greater shock. She then realized that was not be best reaction as he shook his head and looked back to their feet. The fear for him now turned to hurt at seeing his reaction to her reaction to his revelation.

She looked to the ground and found a sudden interest in comparing each others sneakers as well. In a soft whisper, she asked, "Why didn't you just tell me the truth?

Freddie laughed in a sadly which abruptly caused her to lift her head and met his eyes. The brunette boy in a tired voice replied, "Why? The more important question is how? How could I tell my best friend I was in love with her?"

"By saying: 'Carly, I'm in love with you'," she replied in her best (and very bad) impression of Freddie. "That's how you would do it."

He ran a hand through his hair and slightly shook his head. "If it was only that simple Carls… could you imagine what it would have been like if I told you the truth back then? You would have thought I was just some love sick puppy following you around. You would have pitted me or I would have become a punch line to a bad joke. Maybe your 'Please, for me' would have actually worked on me just in the blind hope that pleasing you would give me a chance. Would you have wanted the option to take advantage of my love for something you wanted?"

Hurt tuned back to fear and starting to make her queasy from all the different emotions swirling inside of her as she tried to process all that was happening. The thought about even the possibility of her taking advantage of him physically hurt her and didn't want to go down that line of thought of what kind of horrible person she would be if that ever happened. However, in avoiding thinking about that, another thought occurred to the brunette and she spoke it as soon as the thought formed, "You lied to me. You promised we wouldn't keep secrets from one another, remember?"

Freddie let out a breath and smiled a tired smile. "Of course I lied. If I told you the truth then our friendship would have ended right then and there and I didn't want to lose you."

"How could it have ended?"

"Because then we'd have to have the conversation we're having now and you would have said no. How could our friendship survive knowing I'm carrying a torch for you?"

"I didn't say no… I haven't said no!" she snapped and looked to him with an irritated expression on her face.

Freddie let out a dismissive breath. "You don't have to humor me Carly or spare my feelings. You're not eager to say yes."

Carly's brow furled and she frowned at him. "My best friend just told me he's in love with me and has been in love with me since we met! It takes time for a girl to process that!"

Freddie closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm sorry. That's another reason why I didn't want to tell you: I didn't want you to have to deal with my problem."

Her voice carried the hurt she felt by him comparing loving her to a problem, "You consider loving me a problem?"

His shoulders slumped and in an exhausted tone replied, "When I can't be with you and can't move on, then yes, that's a problem. It's my constant pain to carry and no one else's, especially not you."

The brunette web-hostess wanted to start crying in realizing that her friend had been hurting all this time, but she held back the tears. She didn't know how he would interpret her crying. She was watching him figuratively pulling away from her by the second in a last ditch effort to protect himself… protect his heart.

He whispered without looking at her, "I have to get back to my project. I need to get it done before the night's out." He started to walk past her, but she un-expectantly to both of them threw her arms around his neck and held him as close as she could hold him.

Freddie after a moment wrapped his arms around her. He held her gently, but had this haunting feeling that this was probably the last time they would ever be this close.

She choked out a whisper to his ear as she finally let some tears flow, "Our friendship isn't finished yet. It has survived six years through our craziness. I think it can easily survive you loving me. Just give me some time to figure it all out? Okay?"

"I will," he replied just as softly.

She pulled back just enough for their faces to be an inch or two apart. His chest instantly began to ache knowing that he had made her cry at seeing a few stray tears run down her face. "Promise?"

He blinked at her expression and question, but responded after only a moment of hesitation, "I promise."

The ache in his chest vanished when she smiled brightly. She giggled for a moment, "Okay… let's get back to our projects. Then… we keep our promises."

He nodded and finally felt a genuine small smile form on his face. He regretfully let her go and she took a step back, but as a hand left from behind his neck, she reached with it to take one of his hands. She then turned and pulled him along back into the school.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Thank you all for reading and reviewing; I appreicate the feedback. I also appreicate the time you take to read these fan fiction offerings. I have another two chapters for you and remember, this is AU, so don't be surprised by the unexpected.**

Chapter 3

After squeezing Freddie's hand and sharing a brief smile, the pair parted to finish with their separate projects. Freddie went immediately back to finishing his mood reader experiment with Brad and Sam, but the blonde pulled Carly off to the side and away from prying ears before the brunette could meet back up with Gibby. The little trouble maker smiled as she asked in a whisper, "So, you straightened everything out with Freddie? Did he finally admit he has a thing for the nutty redhead?"

Carly tilted her head to the side and gave her a disapproving look as she replied, "Sam, be nice. Cat is very sweet… even if she is a little…"

"Out there?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow and tried to make a twirling motion with her finger beside her head before Carly grabbed her hand.

"Stop that," Carly snapped in a disapproving tone. "She's… naïve and childlike would be a nicer way of putting it."

Sam rolled her eyes as she freed herself from Carly's grip. "Okay, whatever. Did he admit to liking her?"

"No…" Carly spoke softly. She looked down for a moment before answering, "He said he loves me."

"What?" she asked and looked at her as if the brunette had grown a second head.

"Shhh—Freddie told me that he was in love with me."

"Freddie Benson is in love with you?" Sam asked in disbelief. She then started laughing.

The brunette caught sight of several students looking at them because of Sam's laughter. "It's not funny," the brunette hissed then took Sam by the wrist and led her outside of the classroom. Once they were outside and several feet away from the door against some lockers, Sam began again, "Of course it's funny, because it's just… unbelievable. I mean who would think that was seriously possible? Okay, other than the Creddies?"

Carly tilted her head to the side and gave the blonde a sad look.

Sam sighed in response, "I'm sorry Carls, just… well give me the deets."

She looked to the floor and spoke, "I told him I was sorry for calling Cat and that I just wanted to help him. He told me he didn't love Cat, but I insisted that he did and he should try with her. I told him I knew it could be scary about being rejected, but when I told him he needed to chance if he was ever going to know if it could work or not… he kissed me."

Sam blinked. "He kissed you?"

Carly nodded bashfully.

The blonde then grinned, "Did you enjoy it?"

"Sam?" she questioned sharply with a tilt of her head.

She raised her hands in defense and replied, "You asked me. I think it is only fair that I get to ask you."

"You never answered me," she replied with a furled brow.

Sam smirked, "That's right."

Carly sighed loudly and looked to the ceiling.

"So… did he ask you out?"

The brunette lowered her head and with tired eyes, looked to the blonde. "No, he was afraid of me finding out. He didn't want me to know, but I had to force the issue."

Sam gave her a perplexed look before asking, "Why didn't he want you to find out?"

Carly started picking absently at her other sleeve and avoiding eye contact with her friend as she answered, "He thinks me finding out would ruin our friendship… that it couldn't survive after I would reject him."

Sam nodded sadly, "So you shot him down."

Her head shot up and looked Sam straight in the eyes. "No, I was just as surprised from the news as you and I told him that I was trying to figure it out. He's afraid it's going to end, but I told him it's not and we'll survive. He just had to give me some time to understand it all. I made him promise."

"Freddie will keep that promise… even if it is killing him, so don't take too long."

Carly's eyes drooped and slightly frowned at realizing that Sam was right.

"Freddie's not a bad guy. He's a better man than all those other losers you've given a chance."

The brunette squinted her eyes at Sam.

She cocked her head to the side and replied defensively, "They were losers… except for Shane, but you know I'm right."

Carly released a tired breath and shook her head. Sam was right again. She looked up at her trouble making friend and let a small smile form on her face before asking, "You think Freddie's a good guy?"

"Don't you tell him that," Sam countered and pointed at her.

Carly grinned, "I won't. Thanks Sam."

Sam grinned and gave a nod. "You're welcome cupcake… but I got to get back to my project. We can talk more in the morning if you need to."

"Okay, I need to get back to mine too. I hope Gibby hasn't messed anything up."

The blonde pointed at her again and stated, "You better not be torturing my man."

Carly snorted out a breath and rolled her eyes. "We're not hurting 'your man'; well not too much… mom wouldn't be too happy with me."

Sam grinned, "Nope, Mama Shay wouldn't." The girls then shared a laugh and parted company to get back to their projects.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Carly walked back into the classroom where she and Gibby were using her nineteen year old brother as a guinea pig. He had just finished his first year at University of Washington about a week ago, so he thought it would be fun to catch up with some people he knew that were still at Ridgeway while helping out his sister. He was quite wrong on the 'fun' part of the night. Carly stopped when she saw the back of the familiar brunette hair and this time blue bandana around the head of the slightly shorter woman. She was looking at the glass box that her son was currently being 'held in'.

The brunette with a lowered head slowly walked to stand beside her mother looking at her brother sitting in the middle of the box curled in a ball rocking back and forth.

"Carly?" Taylor asked curiously in a soft voice as she continued to look and try and comprehend why Spencer was in the glass box.

She asked in a quiet voice, "Yes mom?"

"Why is your brother inside the glass box?"

"I told you: he was going to part of our experiment," she answered in forced cheerful tone.

She looked to her daughter with a confused expression, "I thought he was helping you with your project… not a part of your project."

Carly shrugged her shoulders with a guilty smile.

Taylor smiled and shook her head slightly. "He gets one free prank on you if he decides to do that; I'm not interfering, okay?"

Carly let out a relieved breath, "Okay mom."

The art teacher then looked to Gibby and softly instructed him, "Let Spencer out and start on your report. You have plenty of time to get it done before you go home."

"But we're not done with our testing," Gibby pointed out a little shocked at the instruction.

Taylor smiled warmly and gave him a slight nod. "I may be a teacher for the elementary students on the other side of the school, but I'm still a teacher and you are a student Gibby; you're supposed to follow my instructions… besides, I can always tell Samantha what you did to him."

Gibby cleared his throat and walked over to the door of the box as he answered, "Yes ma'am." He began to undo the clasps to the door to open up the experiment box.

Carly looked to her mother and asked softly, "Mom? I need to talk to you. It's really important."

Taylor turned her head and her brow furled with a slight frown. "What's wrong?"

Carly shook her head. "It's not wrong, just… I need to talk to you."

Taylor smiled and wrapped an arm around her daughter's shoulders. "Okay, let's go talk before your brother gets out of the box."

12:22 AM PDT

Freddie was hunched over his laptop putting in the data for the last mood test. He glanced over every so often to see Sam eying him as she chit-chatted with Brad. He knew exactly what she was thinking, because contrary to how well Sam thought she could lie and fool people, she was an open book to him. However, he didn't want to discuss _it_ with her. He didn't even want to discuss it with Carly and had been kicking himself since his conversation with the brunette teenager. Finishing the project had helped take his mind somewhat off what had happened, but now that he was finishing the last bit of his project, his fears and doubts were coming on full force. He had only himself to blame for finally slipping in front of Carly. Slipping may not be the way to describe what had happened with a full blown kiss, but at least she didn't slap him.

He knew it was impulsive and stupid, but she said to take a chance, but he had far more to lose than just being rejected by a girl: he could lose his best friend. The irony wasn't lost on him that out of all the things he could do to lose a friendship it was saying 'I love you'.

Freddie had just finished his last key strokes for the data charts into his paper when a video request box popped up on his taskbar. He clicked the tab and the video program appeared a few moments later. A smiling teenage girl with red velvet hair appeared in the video box. She looked like she was sitting on her bed and he noticed her stuffed pig with a mustache sitting on the headboard. He gave a tired, but friendly smile to her. "Hi Cat."

She returned the greeting cheerfully, "Hey Freddie—"

"Give me a second Cat," he cut her off as he noticed the blonde approaching him. Sam must have heard him speak Cat's name as she abruptly ended her conversation with Brad and started towards Freddie. "Private conversation Sam," he instructed her with in a tone that said that he wasn't going to argue with her. She abruptly stopped in her tracks and started walking backwards then turned back to Brad.

"I'm sorry Cat; I wanted to make sure we could talk privately. They shouldn't have called. I hope they didn't embarrass you," he spoke in a tired voice. He didn't realize he was so tired until that moment and knew it wasn't entirely due to the lateness of the hour.

"It's alright," she replied cheerfully then she narrowed her eyes at him and upturned a corner of her mouth displaying one of her (cute to Freddie) dimples. "I wasn't embarrassed, but I don't understand why they would think you were interested in me."

Freddie sighed and looked away from the screen for a moment. "It's because I'm doing this project at school right now—"

"You're at school? But it's like twelve thirty?"

The brown haired teenager nodded. "Yes, we have this school lock-in near the end of the year so we can spend the entire night working on school projects together and we have teachers that can help us."

"That sounds like so much funny," she replied and stated laughing.

Freddie couldn't help but give a genuine smile at Cat's enthusiasm. He wondered if she could ever be sad and if she was, he knew it couldn't be a pretty sight. "It is, except for tonight."

"Oh, because of what they thought?"

Freddie nodded. "Yeah, see, I'm working on this app on PearPhones and PearPads that is suppose to read people's moods and when I tested it on myself, it said I was in love."

"Of course it would silly, you're in love," she stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Freddie closed his eyes and shook his head. He opened his eyes to see the red velvet haired girl's happy face. "The problem was Sam saw it and ran to tell Carly. They think I've been kind of acting differently since we got back from LA and since we hung out and got along so well, they put all that together and made assumptions about us."

"Oh… that makes sense I guess."

"I'm so sorry that you got dragged into my problems."

Cat gave him a cute smile. "It's alright. That's what friends are for… so what happened after you hung up?"

"I was angry and embarrassed, so I went outside—"

"But you said it was a lock-in?"

He shook his head. "I thought it was too; I guess it's just a phrase and they don't mean that literally. Anyway, Carly came outside to apologize for calling you, but she wanted to admit that I liked you and that I shouldn't be afraid. She said I should take a chance because if I didn't, I would never know if it could work. So I kissed her then told her that she guessed the wrong person that had my heart."

"That's great," she clapped happily, but quickly stopped and her smile fell when she saw his face. "Isn't it?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and frown.

Freddie shook his head.

She asked in a worried tone, "Was she mad?"

"No, I just shocked her. Telling her that her best friend was in love with her was the last thing she expected."

Cat giggled, "If I had a cute boy like you kiss me and said he loved me, I think I might be a little shocked."

Freddie laughed softly from her statement. It was funny to him because he knew she meant it sincerely without a hint of irony due to the circumstances. In a lighter tone that he was finally feeling, he continued, "Thanks Cat… she did have me promise to give her a little time to processes it all."

"That's a good thing. She didn't tell you no. You can't give up and it sounds like she hasn't either. I think it's all going to work out," she cheerfully encouraged him.

"I can't see how it could work out. I feel like it's all or nothing: we either get together or the friendship's over. I don't know how we could work being friends with her knowing I love her like that everyday… I don't want her to constantly feel uncomfortable around me and I don't want to resent her for not loving me. I'm really afraid Cat."

Her face fell and she looked down at her cross-legged lap. After a few moments he assumed she was thinking, she lifted her head and said, "I don't know what to say Freddie, maybe you need to tell her that?"

"What?"

Cat looked to him in the closest he could describe as a reserved expression. "She's your friend now, tell her you're afraid. I think she's the only one that can help you and you're the only one that can help her."

The dread Freddie felt lessened and he gave her a small smile, "Thanks Cat, you're the best."

"You're welcome," she answered and her face brightening with a smile then giggled.

Taylor peaked into a classroom and found it not being used by any student. She entered the darkened classroom and flicked on the lights as she passed. Carly followed her and they both took a seat in an empty student desk. Taylor let out a breath and asked, "So what do you need to talk to me about?"

Carly swallowed down her nervousness and hesitantly began, "You know how Sam and I thought that Freddie might like Cat?"

The brunette replied with a smile and a nod. "Yes, I think that's sweet you trying to help Freddie get over his shyness in asking Cat."

"We were wrong."

Taylor replied sadly, "Oh? So he's not in love? That's too bad. Freddie's a sweet boy, he should have someone special."

"No."

Her mother gave her a perplexed look. "No? Freddie's not a sweet boy?"

"No, yes—I mean he is a sweet boy and he is in love, but not with who we thought."

"Who's he in love with?"

Carly took a breath before replying, "He told me he was in love with me."

Taylor covered her mouth with a hand and tried to suppress a laugh.

"Mom?"

Taylor dropped a hand from over her mouth. "I'm sorry cupcake, it's just… he fell in love with the girl next door. It's sweet. How long has he liked you like that?"

Seeing her mother's almost giddiness was not helping her mood. "He said since he met me," she admitted quietly.

If anything, Taylor's smile got bigger showing off her dimples that Steven had always thought were adorable. "So he's really been keeping it a secret this entire time?"

"Yes… wait, you sound like you knew he liked me," Carly replied with a questioning look.

Taylor smiled and looked down for a moment. "I've thought a few times over the years that his feelings for you may be more than platonic, but he's never overtly acted on those feelings if he has them, so it was just woman's intuition."

Carly shook her head and her mouth slightly hung open. "I didn't suspect a thing. How could I be so blind to that?"

"Because he wanted you to be blind. He's done everything he could for you not to know and it looks like it has worked until now. Did he tell you why he hid his feelings?"

"He didn't want to be considered a joke or me to pity him in the beginning and later he didn't want to ruin our friendship."

"So he was afraid of risking what he had for what you two could become? It's a reasonable fear, but not an insurmountable one. How do you feel? About him?"

"He's my best friend and I love him, but—"

"But you never considered him boyfriend material?"

Carly shrugged her shoulders. "No, I just never thought about it like that. He's always been just Freddie."

"What if he wasn't your friend?"

"I don't understand," Carly replied with a raised eyebrow.

"What if you met Freddie just recently and he asked you out, would you go on a date with him? I think he's cuter and more handsome then all the other boys you've went out with, especially that 'Steven'," she said Steven in a tone that was the closest she could get to being disgusted at something. The boy that cheated on her daughter having the same name as her husband didn't help her feelings at all concerning the boy. "Freddie has to be the nicest boy you've ever been with and he's very smart and you have the advantage of knowing already that he really cares about you and we don't even have to mention the Taco Truck accident."

Carly looked down at the desk and thought about it for a moment. If Freddie had just dropped into her life like Steven or Adam, she would have probably drooled over him: smart, funny, very good looking, could give Cort a run for his money in the 'let's not wear a shirt' department. They were shallow reasons she would admit, but what separated him from the rest was that he never take her for granted and would love her for her and not just being 'iCarly'. The brunette realized that she was getting quite uncomfortable with were her thoughts were leading about her best friend.

In a quiet voice that Taylor hadn't her speak since Carly was a child asked, "What if we fail? What if it goes bad, it's not just some boy I would be losing, I would be losing my Freddie."

Taylor nodded understandably, "What if? What if? What if? Sweetie, you can't let fear of what could happen get in the way of possibly being quite happy. You've put your heart out before—"

"Look what happened," she spoke sadly thinking on the past.

"Do you believe Freddie would ever do that to you?"

"Never!" she snapped at her. She instantly blushed and looked down at being so sharp with her mother.

Taylor giggled at her daughter's reaction. "I see you have the passion."

Carly let out a disbelief breath. "Mom, really?"

"You have all the ingredients for a compatible relationship if you want one and I think you can be happy with one another. I'm not saying you won't have problems if you decide to try, the Lord knows your father and I have had ours, but it's made us stronger. After thirty years of marriage, I think we're doing something right," Taylor finished with a laugh and bite of her lower lip.

Carly joined her one moment later in laughter. "He knows how to kiss too," she let slip out.

"He kissed you?" Taylor asked with an excited expression.

Carly let out a breath and answered, "I told him to take a chance with Cat, but he took his chance with me, by kissing me."

Taylor smiled brightly. "Was it a nice kiss?"

"Mom?"

"Carlotta?" she challenged gently.

Carly looked down at the desk somewhat embarrassed and a healthy blush forming on her cheeks as she replied, "It was the best kiss."

"They usually are when the person loves you and means it. I think the two of you need to talk now. Whatever you decide cupcake, I'll be right here to support you."

"Thanks mom," the teenager answer with a smile. She got up from the desk and hugged her mother around the shoulders. She pulled back and stated, "I'm going to go see Freddie." She then let go and headed out of the classroom.

Taylor smiled back as she called out, "Just be happy."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

During the course of Freddie's private chat with Cat, Sam slipped out of the classroom and headed for the experiment that Carly and Gibby had roped her boyfriend into participating. As smart as her man could be, he could be so naïve at times. He knew that he was very lucky to have her just for that reason. As Sam entered the classroom, she found Spencer sitting in a chair rocking back and forth. She quickly dashed over and palmed his cheeks for him to look at her. "Spencer?"

He blinked for a moment before focusing on his girlfriend's blue eyes. "Don't eat the chowder," he snapped.

"Okay, I won't eat the chowder," Sam whispered back. Sam kissed her boyfriend on the side of his forehead before turning around and glaring at Gibby. "A wedgie is going to be the least of what I'm going to do to you Gibson," Sam shouted at the heavier boy.

"He said he'd part of our experiment," Gibby replied defensively.

"I didn't say you could torture me!" Spencer shouted indignantly as he was still rocking back and forth, but this time in a chair.

Sam stepped right up to Gibby and grabbed the taller boy by the collar. "The next part of you I'm going to break is not going to be your thumbs."

The color from Gibby's face drained and swallowed a lump forming in his throat. Sam released one of her hands and clenched it into a fist. Before Sam could carry out her threat, Carly rushed into the classroom. The three turned to see the brunette nearly out of breath as she asked Sam, "Do you know where Freddie is?"

"You want me to tell you after spent I don't know how long torturing my boyfriend for your science project? Really Carls?"

"That's what little sisters do," the brunette offered as her explanation.

Sam frowned at her friend and crossed her arms.

Carly tilted her head to the side and gave her a pleading look. "Sam? Please?"

The blonde let out a breath. "Last time I saw him he was still in the classroom… he was video chatting with Cat,"

"Thanks Sam," she answered with a smile.

Against her better judgment, the blonde rolled her eyes and grinned. "Go get'im kiddo."

Carly wrapped her friend into a hug then dashed out of the classroom. The brunette scooted past her mother as the pair entered and exited the classroom at the same time. The mother just shook her head and smiled at her passing daughter, hoping for the best that everything would work out.

The bandana wearing teacher approached her son, Sam and Gibby with a hesitant smile. Taylor rested a hand on her son's shoulder and asked quietly, "Are you alright?"

Spencer shook his head vigorously. "No I'm not alright." Spencer started rattling off, "She shocked me and made me stinky and made me listen to Dingo radio. She can't get away with that!"

Taylor briefly laughed. "That's why you are going to be allowed one free prank on her, as long as it doesn't hurt her, ok?"

"Really?" Spencer asked with a giddy expression. He hadn't been allowed to pull a prank since the garlic powder incident when he was fourteen.

Mama Shay raised a finger and looked her son in the eyes, "As long as it doesn't hurt her, understood young man?"

"Yes ma'am," he grinned devilishly as the gears in his head were already turning on how best to get back at his sister.

Carly reached the classroom and there were still a few students working on their respective projects, but didn't see Freddie anywhere in the room. One student noticed Carly's casual searching of the room and pointed to the exit. The brunette gave a thankful nod and headed out of the classroom.

She found her brown eye boy sitting on the steps as she did an hour ago, but this time he didn't have his back against the wall. He was just causally looking up at the sky maybe hoping to see a few stars between the clouds and ambient light of the city. He looked serene sitting there all alone in the night. She let out a nervous breath and rubbed her hands off on her jeans then approached him slowly.

He didn't acknowledge her presence as she took a seat beside him on the steps. She looked at the profile of his face and she saw the doubt and fear that he tried to hide, but she could see. She knew him too well and been together too long. 'Together' was such a loaded word for them at the moment.

"Interesting night?" she asked as casually as possible.

"Yep," he answered distractedly. "We still have five or six hours left to it."

"So we still have plenty of time to get into some trouble?" she joked awkwardly.

He wouldn't turn and meet her gaze, but continued to look up at the sky. "I think I'm already in enough trouble for the night."

"You're not in trouble. I told you our friendship wasn't finished yet."

"It doesn't make me any less afraid," he whispered out so softly that the cool night breeze almost carried his words away.

She scooted closer to him so that the sides of their arms were pressed together. "What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid it's all or nothing. I thought I friendship would end if I told you the truth almost two years ago and I don't see anything that would change that same outcome now," he answered in that same defeatist attitude.

"What if I said yes?"

"Yes?" He turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

She inched even closer and rested her chin on his shoulder and their faces scant distance between them. "Why do you think I won't give you a chance?"

"I'm not the kind of guy you look at… I don't meet your standards."

"Maybe I've just been setting my standards too low?"

She gave him a bashful smile. "I've dated and only been interested with guys that are cute or have scars or could make me laugh, and you are cute, handsome, have scars on the inside from the accident, you make me laugh. But you're different: care about me and love me. You don't sweet talk me, but tell me the truth, even during the times I don't want to hear it. You're there when I need you the most and you wouldn't intentionally hurt me."

He looked her straight into the eyes and replied without hesitation, "That's because I love you."

Her breath hitched in her throat for the look in his eyes and sincerity in his voice. Then she realized what she had to do: she reached up and cupped his cheek as she leaned in to capture his lips with hers. He was the one caught by surprise, but he adapted to the situation far more quickly than Carly did an hour ago: he wrapped his left arm around her to pull her close because he was terrified of letting her go.

Their kiss was warm and gentle at first then built up until they both needed to pull back due to the need to breath, but continued to trade small ones for the next few seconds. After catching his breath and resting their foreheads on one another, the Tech-Producer asked with a smile on his face, "So we're going to risk it?"

She smiled in return and whispered, "Yes, because _we're_ worth the risk."

Freddie let out a relieved chuckle, "I'm going to have to tell Cat she was right."

"About what?"

"She told me it was going to work out, even if didn't believe it."

Carly laughed, "Cat's smarter than people give her credit for. I have to remember to tell her."

Epilogue

Carly was finishing up in the bathroom with her hair wrapped up in a towel drying and getting ready to get dressed for her second date with Freddie. He was going to take her out to a nice restaurant then out to the Seattle Public Theatre for something unique. She thought back on to their first date of going out to the movies and grabbing a late dinner at the Groovy Smoothie afterwards. Their first date was painfully shy and humorously awkward to start off with because neither knew how to really act for a date with each other. Taking someone that you just met out on a date was relatively painless and certain natural patterns for the date were expected: conversing to get to know one another, find out hobbies, personality quirks, but that wasn't applicable to two best friends that already knew each other that way.

They finally broke with the awkwardness when Freddie gave her a quick peck on the lips and said, "Let's just be Carly and Freddie for tonight and we'll see what happens?"

That put them both at ease and she couldn't have been happier with how the night had turned out. Her mother was concerned about the lateness of the hour when they returned back to her apartment, but the art teacher was quite happy for her daughter.

The details were quite fun to give to her mother, Sam and surprisingly Cat when Carly got to finally thank her for being there for Freddie and being so understanding with her and Sam on a potentially embarrassing moment for her with the random phone call. The redhead was quite ecstatic for the couple and wished them the best of luck.

After spending the last few minutes reminiscing on the past week or so on what it took to get her here to even be going out on another date with Freddie, she finally went back to her hair and gave it a good drying with the towel before pulling it away from her head. She looked to the mirror and blinked several times not believing the image reflected back at her: her hair was the color of red velvet.

She screamed at the top of her lungs. "Spencer!"

Author's Closing Note: Thanks for reading this little short story of mine. If you liked it, please review, if you didn't like it please review. There are other stories I plan on posting, so stay tuned.


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